South Carolina Governor Hires Law Firm To Fight Aircraft Mechanics Union

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South Carolina Governor Hires Law Firm To Fight Aircraft Mechanics Union By Shane Nolan

		March 1, 2011 - According to an article in the Columbia Free Times, the taxpayers of South Carolina will be paying for an anti-union law firm to represent the state in a lawsuit by the Machinists Union. Assisting the state’s defense in the lawsuit is the labor and employment law firm Ogletree Deakins. Because the union also recently sued labor agency director Templeton in her personal capacity as well, the firm will also represent her personally, according to firm attorney Ashley Cuttino. Templeton formerly worked there and its website touts her 14 years of experience in “union avoidance,” including national campaigns against several major national unions.

Cuttino says she no longer works for the firm. One union organizer isn’t happy with the firm’s role in the suit. “Here’s the good ‘ol boy system at work,” says Donna DeWitt, president of the state chapter of the AFL/CIO. “[Templeton] is being sued, so she’s going to hire her former law firm to represent her, who’s going to be paid for by the state of South Carolina. Southern Territory General Vice President Bob Martinez responded to the actions of the Governor’s office: “Paying huge fees to anti-union lawyers to represent the Governor and her union-busting labor secretary during tough economic times is an insult to the working taxpayers of South Carolina. "The Governor not only pledges to use tax money to keep unions out and wages low in South Carolina, but they then use the tax money of the working families of South Carolina to shovel lots of money to fat-cat lawyers who in turn bankroll the campaigns for the Governor.” “That’s what you call ‘adding insult to injury’ to the South Carolina Worker,” said GVP Martinez. Corey Hutchins for the Free Times wrote, as fiery union protests spread across state capitols in the Midwest, sparked by a Republican governor’s attack on organized labor, a much quieter battle between unions and a state’s chief executive is being waged in a federal courthouse in South Carolina. In late January, a machinists union sued Republican Gov. Nikki Haley in U.S. district court because of her hostility toward union activities specifically organizing at airline manufacturer Boeing’s new plant in North Charleston. The suit came after remarks Haley made when nominating her new director for the state’s Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. “We’re going to fight the unions and I needed a partner to help me do it,” Haley said. Her choice was Catherine Templeton, an attorney with a long history of fighting unions.

The Maryland-based International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, the union bringing the lawsuit, charges that Haley and Templeton are maintaining a state policy of opposing workers’ advocacy for and association in unions. On Feb. 3, Republican State Attorney General Alan Wilson filed a motion to dismiss the suit. The IAM has been maintaining contact with its supporters in North Charleston who are looking to form a union at the Boeing plant, and its lawyers were in the state this week.

Assisting the state’s defense in the lawsuit is the labor and employment law firm Ogletree Deakins. Because the union also recently sued labor agency director Templeton in her personal capacity as well, the firm will also represent her personally, according to firm attorney Ashley Cuttino. Templeton formerly worked there and its website touts her 14 years of experience in “union avoidance,” including national campaigns against several major national unions. Cuttino says she no longer works for the firm.

One union organizer isn’t happy with the firm’s role in the suit. “Here’s the good ‘ol boy system at work,” says Donna DeWitt, president of the state chapter of the AFL/CIO. “[Templeton] is being sued, so she’s going to hire her former law firm to represent her, who’s going to be paid for by the state of South Carolina.”

The Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation referred calls for comment to the governor’s office. A spokesman there did not respond by press time. Last year, South Carolina had the third-lowest organized workforce in the country at 4.5 percent, according to the national Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Palmetto State has a bloody history when it comes to unions, including a brutal massacre in the town of Honea Path in 1934 when security forces working for a textile company opened fire on workers attempting to organize.

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